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The Who’s Response to Punk Rock
My continuing series of “songs that matter”
Punk rock was based on the assumption that everything before it was useless. Just as rock n’ roll obliterated the pop music that appeared before it, and the British Invasion made the music of Fabian and Bobby Vinton obsolete, punk rock spat on the vacuous, bloated arena rock of Pink Floyd and Yes. Bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash did not hold back when speaking out against their predecessors. Pete Townshend pushed back against the notion that rock was dead after a chance meeting with two Sex Pistols in a pub, which inspired a song.
Let’s take a closer look at “Who Are You” by The Who.
“Who Are You’ was written about meeting Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols after an awful 13-hour encounter with Allen Klein,” Townshend wrote in the 1978 liner notes to the reissue of the album Who Are You.
Klein and Townshend disputed funds, which led to a meeting that stretched over an entire day. They reached an agreement, and Townshend ended up yelling at the young punks about money at a local speakeasy. The over-indulged older musician passed out on the street. A British bobby encouraged Townshend to go home.
Townshend added: “Steve and Paul became real ‘mates’ of mine in the English sense. We socialized a few…
